Centromere-specific multi-color FISH (cenM-FISH) is a new multicolor FISH technique that allows the simultaneous characterization of all human centromeres by using labeled centromeric satellite DNA as probes. This approach allows the rapid identification of all human centromeres by their individual pseudo-coloring in one single step and is therefore a… (More)

Pheochromocytoma (PCC) in children is rare, genetically not well described, and often related to a poor prognosis. We detected genomic imbalances in all 14 tumors from children analyzed by comparative genomic hybridization. A combinatorial loss of chromatin from 3p and 11p was a common feature in 10 of 14 (72%) patients, which was a result of either a loss… (More)

A mouse monoclonal antibody directed against the protein product of the hepatitis B virus X open reading frame was prepared. This antibody was used to screen liver tissue sections from patients with chronic hepatitis (CH) and patients with liver cell carcinoma (LCC). Reactive antigen was detected by immunohistochemistry in about 30% auf the samples from CH… (More)

TEL/AML1 gene fusion is the most frequent genetic lesion in pediatric acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). It occurs as a consequence of the cryptic chromosomal translocation t(12;21)(p13;q22). In a cohort of 50 RT-PCR-positive TEL/AML1 patients, karyotype examination by GTG banding and fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) allowed us to identify… (More)

Nucleophosmin mutations of exon 12 (NPM1 mutations) represent the most frequent molecular aberration that can be found in patients with acute myeloid leukaemia (AML) and can be detected in about 35% of AML patients. NPM1 mutations are characterised by four basepair insertions within the region corresponding to the C-terminus of the protein leading to its… (More)

The majority of translocations that involve the long arms of chromosomes 11 and 17 in acute myeloid leukemia appear identical on the cytogenetic level. Nevertheless, they are diverse on the molecular level. At present, two genes are known in 11q23 and four in 17q12-25 that generate five distinct fusion genes: MLL-MLLT6/AF17, MLL-LASP1, MLL-ACACA or… (More)

The structure of integrated hepatitis B virus (HBV) DNA was analysed to determine the origin of recurrent and multinodular hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). In 5 cases, recurrent tumours were compared with the respective primary tumours, all of which had chromosomally integrated viral DNA. In only one of these cases, an identical HBV DNA integration pattern… (More)

Hepatitis B virus transcripts and DNA from paired samples of neoplastic and nonneoplastic liver tissue of HBsAg seropositive patients were analyzed. The data obtained support the view that transcription of integrated DNA is frequent, both in neoplastic as well as in nonneoplastic liver tissue. In the case of one patient, integrated and free forms of… (More)

A case of chronic myelogenous leukaemia (CML) in a 48-year-old man is reported. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of a Philadelphia-negative CML with an acquired small supernumerary marker chromosome (SMC) 11 as the sole abnormality. The derivative chromosome 11 was studied in detail using molecular cytogenetic methods; fluorescence in… (More)

Among activating class III receptor tyrosine kinase (Flt3) mutations, internal tandem duplications of Flt3 (Flt3-ITD) are detected in about 25% of patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML). In contrast, mutations within the tyrosine kinase domain of Flt3 (Flt3-TKD mutations) are less frequent (approximately 7%), and there are only limited data on the… (More)